THE FULLNESS OF THE TIME AND THE JEWISH CALENDAR

Leviticus 23; Galatians 4:1-11

 

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 23:1-25

 

A. Leviticus 23 gives an overview of the Jewish calendar (see also Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-26; Deuteronomy 16:1-17; Numbers 28-29).

1. Seventh day Sabbath (v.3).

2. Passover (v.5; cf. Galatians 4:3-7)

3. Feast of Unleavened Bread (vv.6-8)

4. Feast of first fruits (vv.9-14; cf. Galatians 5:22)

5. Pentecost (vv.15-21)

6. Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah (vv.23-25)

7. Day of Atonement (vv.26-32)

8. Feast of Booths/Tabernacles (vv.33-36a)

9. Day after the feast of booths/no work was to be done (v.36b)

 

B. Other religious times on the Jewish calendar

1. Sabbath year (Ex.23:10-11)

2. Year of Jubilee (Lev.25:8-55; 27:17-24; Num.36:4; cf. Isa.61:1-3; Luke 4:16-21).

3. Feasts on the first day of each month (Numbers 10:10; 28:11; 1 Chronicles 23:31; cf. Isaiah 66:23; Colossians 2:16). 

 

C. The Judaizers in Galatians were bringing the Christians back to the food laws and circumcision but also the Jewish calendar (Galatians 4:10).

“To attempt to understand law apart from Christ is to attempt to understand a calculator without mathematics – it is simply impossible.  A calculator is for doing; the law is to point us to Christ” (James White, The God Who Justifies, 305).

 

D. The entire book of Leviticus was given to Moses at Mount Sinai and the Jewish calendar was not observed before Mount Sinai. 

1. None of these feasts were observed before the time of Moses, with the exception of the Sabbath Day (cf. Genesis 2:2-3; Mark 2:27). 

2. There is a difference between the Fourth Commandment and the rest of the Jewish calendar. 

a. The world still follows the “calendar of creation” in Genesis 1:1-2:3. 

b. The other days of the Jewish calendar originated at the time of Moses and Mount Sinai. 

 

E. When Paul says that Jesus was born in the “fullness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) he also has in mind the Jewish calendar.  All of these Jewish feast days and months and years find their ultimate purpose and fulfillment in Jesus Christ (cf. Colossians 2:13-17). 

“Moreover, God hath ordered all things in the dispensation of his grace, and institution of his worship, that Jesus Christ should have the pre-eminence in all.  All things are gathered up unto a head in him” (John Owen,  An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews; commenting on Heb.4:9 p.347).

 

I.  THE WAY THE JUDAIZERS WERE INTERPRETING THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS NO BETTER THAN THE PAGANISM THAT THE GALATIANS HAD BEEN SAVED FROM (Galatians 4:8-9)

 

A. The Judaizers were leading the church back to the Old Testament and disconnecting it from Jesus Christ.  Paul’s argument is that biblical Judaism has always been connected to Jesus Christ. 

 

B. Paul’s exhortation is similar to Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15).

 

C. The Old Testament Law and calendar was a good thing when used lawfully.

1. Paul never denounced circumcision but rather the Judaizers’ interpretation of it (Galatians 5:6; see especially Acts 16:1-3).

2. Paul continued to observe Jewish feast days (Acts 20:6,16; 27:9; 1 Cor.16:8). 

3. Paul was in the synagogue on the 7th day Sabbath. 

4. The difference between Paul and the Judaizers is that Paul gave the preeminence to Jesus Christ. 

 

“One of the great errors of the Messianic Movements is the fact that it has placed Jewishness at the centre of its life.  That is where Jesus should be, no one and nothing else.  He alone deserves to be the focus of our attention, devotion and commitment.  He alone has the right to our hearts.  A congregation or an individual that focuses on cultivating, defending, promoting and insisting upon Jewishness has chosen to ignore the high calling of God in Messiah Jesus, because it has places its focus where it should not be” (Baruch Maoz, Judaism is not Jewish, p.88).

 

II.  ISRAEL RECEIVED A NEW CALENDAR AFTER SHE WAS REDEEMED FROM EGYPT AND BROUGHT TO MOUNT SINAI (Exodus 12:2)

 

A. Not only did Israel receive a new calendar when she came to Mount Sinai, but it was at Mount Sinai that the design and pattern for the Tabernacle was given.  Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19-22).  With a new Temple comes a different day for the church’s assembly for worship (Hebrews 7:12; cf. Hebrews 3-4).

 

B. “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2).

1. The month of the Passover changed the calendar to the first month, whereas it was previously the seventh month (cf. Exodus 12:18; Lev.23:5; Num.9:1-5; 28:16).

2. The use of the word beginning reminds us of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning….”

3. Christ has the preeminence in all things and with a new creation and a greater redemption comes a new calendar

 

C. Creation and redemption are also the reasons given for observing the Fourth Commandments.

The 19th century church historian Philip Schaff wrote:

“The celebration of the Lord’s Day in memory of the resurrection of Christ dates undoubtedly from the apostolic age.  Nothing short of apostolic precedent can account for the universal religious observance in the churches of the second century. There is no dissenting voice. This custom is confirmed by the testimonies of the earliest post-apostolic writers, as Barnabas, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr.  It is also confirmed by the younger Pliny.  The Didache an early 2nd century manual of church instruction, calls the first day "the Lord’s Day of the Lord."” (Schaff, Vol.II, p.201).  That there was no trace of any controversy in the early church as to the day in which the church was to gather for worship is amazing when we consider all the controversies the church went though concerning the Gentiles, circumcision and eating! 

 

1. In Exodus 20:8-11 the reason for six days of labor and one day of rest is because of creation, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth…”

2. In Deuteronomy 5:12-15 the reason for keeping the Sabbath holy is Israel’s redemption from Egypt, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” (cf.Ex.31:13–17)

3. When Jesus came He did not abolish the Fourth Commandment.  But the preeminent reason for our keeping 1 day in 7 holy has changed and now revolves around His greater redemption and the fact that we are a new creation in Him (Galatians 4:5; 6:15). 

 

D. In all things, including the Jewish calendar and the Fourth Commandment, Jesus must have the preeminence, “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28).

 

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)

 

III.  “YOU OBSERVE DAYS AND MONTHS AND SEASONS AND YEARS” DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT HAS BEEN ABOLISHED (cf. Matthew 5:17-20; 11:28-12:13; 28:20).

 

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

 

Take what you have learned this morning and turn it into a prayer.  Pray that God would help you to delight more in His day.

 

When and where did Israel’s religious calendar begin?

 

Why was the Judaizers’ interpretation of the Law no better than the paganism that the Galatians had been saved from?

 

The Fourth Commandment gives two different reasons for keeping the Sabbath day holy.  What are they?  (see Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). 

 

Now that Jesus has come in the fullness of the time, what does the Christian “religious calendar” revolve around?

 

Every day is to be consecrated to God’s service so what makes the Lord’s Day any different?

 

How do well meaning Christians who do not believe in the Fourth Commandment still keep the principle of 1 day in 7?

 

Lord’s Day/Sabbath ideas:

 

Ø  Take time to enjoy God’s creation and consider His works.

Ø  Have someone over for dinner or visit someone in the hospital/nursing home.

Ø  Read through a book of the Bible.

Ø  Go to church morning and evening (if able) and monthly prayer evening.

Ø  Work on Scripture memory.

Ø  Sing

Ø  Make the day special for your children.

ü  Have special Bible books you read to them

ü  Have special Bible/creation DVDs.

ü  Play Bible games (the following are available at Christianbook.com: Guesstures: Bible Edition; Bible Tribond; Outburst, Bible edition; Scattergories, Bible edition; etc.)

 

 

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